Chapter 165: Nightmare
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 165: Nightmare
“I’m sorry. I don’t think I can make it.”
As he spoke, Mars was noticeably weakened. His eyes were half-open as if he were drowsy, and his breathing was so faint it seemed it could stop at any moment.
Isabelle’s heart sank.
“M-Mars. What are you talking about? What do you mean you can’t make it…”
“I can’t muster any strength… Is it because I pushed myself too hard to replicate that swordsmanship…?”
Mars gave a bitter smile.
“So you should run. You’ll be able to get away on your own.”
“Leave you behind and escape alone? Don’t be ridiculous!”
Isabelle turned her back to Mars and crouched down.
“Isabelle…?”
“Get on.”
“I’ll only be a burden…”
“Hurry!”
When Isabelle snapped, Mars had no choice but to wrap his arms around her shoulders and lean his body against her. Isabelle grabbed his legs and stood up.
Just as she was about to run with him on her back…
-Where do you think you’re going?
The succubus, having recovered from the pain, her eyes flashed open.
-You know, I re~ally hate being in pain. But thanks to you, I was in a lot of pain just now.
I’m going to return the favor. In full.
As her words ended, the monsters cried out. The powerful howls from all directions shook the bushes.
-You’ll die regretting to your very bones that you ever hurt me, won’t you?
Thud-thud-thud— Thud-thud-thud—
The sound of footsteps came from all sides.
Monsters emerged from the darkness.
Isabelle whipped her head around, trying not to lose track of their movements.
The first to charge was a Dire Wolf. It thrust its jaws forward, trying to swallow them both at once.
“Get lost!”
Isabelle launched a Wind Blade. Whoosh! Struck by the blade, the Dire Wolf was sent flying and slammed into a tree. It shook its head with a shudder and got back on its feet.
Seeing this, Isabelle gritted her teeth.
‘Just as I thought. The power is weaker now that the contract is gone.’
Wind Blade was never a particularly powerful spell, valued more for its quick, incantation-less casting. But when she was contracted to the Succubus Queen, she had used that vast pool of magic power to boost its strength.
If it had been as powerful as it was back then, the Dire Wolf would have been split in two and died.
But now, far from being split in two, it didn't even leave a scratch on its hide.
This made Isabelle anxious.
None of the surrounding monsters looked any weaker than the Dire Wolf.
“Go away! Get lost!”
Wind Blades and ice spikes flew toward the monsters. Facing so many at once, she had no time to chant a more powerful spell.
Despite her desperate struggle, the number of monsters showed no sign of decreasing.
The monsters, as if they had learned, gathered and charged all at once.
Isabelle drew upon her mana.
“Aaaargh!”
The ground around her rose up in hexagonal, tombstone-like pillars.
Isabelle unleashed the mana she had gathered.
The stone pillars shot outward from the hexagon in straight lines.
-Kiek?!
-Kaaak!
The monsters were either struck and sent flying or were pushed back, stuck to the pillars.
With the charging monsters thrown back, the battle entered a brief lull.
“Hah… hah…”
Isabelle’s breathing was ragged. She had used a large amount of mana in a short time. Her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground. Mars watched her with worried eyes.
“Isabelle. It’s not too late. While the monsters are still dazed—”
“Stop it!”
Isabelle turned toward Mars. He had been trying to persuade her, but he lost his words when he saw her eyes welling up with tears.
Large teardrops rolled down her cheeks.
“Why do you keep telling me to give up on you? Do you have any idea how hard it was for me while you were gone?”
Isabelle had left her village without a second thought, determined to find Mars. Of course, she had done it impulsively, unable to control her surge of emotion, but even after she came to her senses, she didn't go back.
Because Mars wasn’t there.
Her childhood friend, the man she'd spent half her life with, the man she loved, wasn't there.
She knew that returning to a place like that would only bring a flood of emptiness and regret.
So she wandered wherever she could.
The Empire. The Carta Kingdom. The Duchy of Policia. And even the Alitia Kingdom. All of them.
Naturally, it wasn’t easy.
Before leaving her village, she had been nothing more than a country girl with no interest in the world outside.
All sorts of hardships and trials tormented her, but she endured them steadfastly and pushed forward. Eventually, she resorted to any means necessary to find Mars.
After all that, they had finally met.
They had finally confirmed their feelings for each other.
So why did he keep telling her to give up?
“I can’t live without you…”
Isabelle hugged Mars tightly. She didn’t care that his blood was staining her clothes. She burst into sorrowful tears in his arms.
“Isabelle…”
With an expression that was hard to read as happy or sad, Mars gently embraced her. Isabelle lifted her head. She met his gaze with eyes full of resolve.
“I’m never leaving alone.”
She grabbed the back of his head, pulled him in, and pressed her lips to his.
Her first kiss tasted of blood.
But strangely, she found the blood sweet.
Isabelle pulled her lips away.
“If we die, we die together.”
She kissed him again, this time pushing her tongue inside. Schlurp. Chup. Smooch. Their tongues mingled with lewd sounds.
Realizing there was no more resistance, the monsters began to move again. They surrounded Mars and Isabelle, then pounced all at once.
Sharp teeth and claws descended upon them.
And so, Mars and Isabelle, having confirmed their love for one another, died a romantic death…
Or not.
CRACK!
The sharp sound of air being torn apart.
What followed was an indiscriminate slaughter.
Thump. Thump.
The monsters’ bodies fell to the ground in pieces. They met their end without even knowing what had hit them.
-W-What?
The Succubus Queen’s voice was laced with confusion.
Mars and Isabelle, also wondering what was happening, stopped kissing and turned their heads.
“You crazy bastards. You should be thinking about how to survive, not sitting there making out.”
“What’s wrong with that? I think it’s a lovely sight.”
“Lovely? What’s so lovely about it? It’s driving me crazy just watching. Anyway, you two are in for it when we get back.”
There stood Cloud, with a displeased expression, and Frillite, who watched him with a chuckle.
Mars and Isabelle were momentarily stunned.
Isabelle, the first to grasp the situation, smashed her lips against Mars’s again.
“…She certainly is bold.”
“What are you admiring now?”
Cloud narrowed his eyes.
He called over Marietta and Ophelia and had them treat Mars.
“…”
“Oh, dear…”
After examining Mars’s condition, the two women’s expressions turned grim.
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
Marietta and Ophelia began the treatment.
They exchanged glances, then Marietta, cautiously watching Cloud, spoke.
“His condition… is very bad.”
“I know, I can see that. Just hurry up and heal him.”
“Well… it’s more serious than you think, Hero.”
“How serious?”
She hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth.
“He has consumed his Innate True Qi (先天眞氣).”
Innate True Qi.
A human’s fundamental life force.
It can draw out power far greater than mana, but once consumed, it can never be restored.
Cloud’s face hardened.
“With Ophelia and me here, he won’t die. But what we’re doing here is nothing more than first aid. To treat him properly, we need to go to the main church in the Empire—”
-You bastards… Hey! You! I’m standing right here watching, and what? The Empire? Do you really think you can just walk out of here…?
“Shut up, you fly-bitch! Stop buzzing! People are talking here!”
-W-What…? A f-fly…?
The Succubus Queen staggered at Cloud’s outburst. Had she heard correctly? Did that human really just call her, the Queen of Succubi, a fly?
Gwoooo—
A dark red rage welled up from deep within her chest.
-How dare these pieces of trash look down on me…?
She took out the branch of the World Tree she had tucked between her breasts.
-I wasn’t planning on using this here… but I’ve changed my mind.
The Succubus Queen’s mana began to amplify through the branch of the World Tree. Cloud, Frillite, and the others prepared for her attack.
-You shouldn’t have tried to stop me~.
Angelica, the Succubus Queen, smiled, the corners of her eyes crinkling.
The branch of the World Tree turned to ash as her mana spread out in an instant.
The forest was stained black.
*
Frillite opened her eyes.
Feeling a soft sensation enveloping her, she immediately threw herself from the spot.
Landing on the floor, she whipped her head around, surveying her surroundings.
‘…My room?’
Frillite had woken up in her own room.
‘How did this happen? I was definitely…’
Definitely? What?
What was so strange about her waking up in her own room?
Something was clearly off, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it was.
No matter how she tried to trace her thoughts, the source of the fog-like unease remained just out of reach.
Just then, a knock came at the door.
“Who is it?”
-It’s Rainy, Lady Frillite. May I come in?
It was Rainy, Frillite’s handmaiden.
“You may enter.”
At her permission, a blonde woman opened the door and came in. On the tray she carried was a washbasin filled with water.
While Frillite washed her face with the water, Rainy asked.
“Will you be heading to the training ground right away, as usual?”
“Yes, I will.”
After changing her clothes, Frillite headed to the training ground behind the mansion with her attendant.
As she neared the training ground, she saw that its door was open.
‘Hm? Was there someone else using the training ground at this hour?’
This training ground was only for those of the Ferdiac bloodline.
Perhaps a new knight had mistaken the location?
Puzzled, Frillite entered the training ground, and her question was answered the moment she saw the person inside.
“Cloud?”
The one using the training ground was Cloud.
She smiled and approached him.
“I was wondering why the door was open, but it was you, Cloud. Hmm? But why are you in my family’s training ground…?”
Cloud sighed as he looked at her, tilting her head in renewed confusion.
“Frillite. Even if you are the heir, isn’t it a bit much to call your older brother by his name?”
“…Huh?”
Frillite’s smile froze.